CONWAY, Ark. (April 8, 2009) – In the wake of the current recession, tent cities have cropped up across the nation. The newest one appeared on the west lawn of Hendrix College, Tuesday, as part of Hendrix’s annual 24-hour homeless vigil. 

Four large tents were set up in the grass, and students were invited to spend the night there in order to better understand what it’s like to be homeless.  To advertise the event, junior Jake Eddington taped fake eviction notices to the front doors of Hendrix-owned apartments. Eddington is publicity chair of Campus Kitty, the Hendrix club that sponsors the vigil.

The extra promotion paid off: nearly twice as many students participated this year, even though the overnight temperature bottomed out around 34 degrees.

“It was a good experience to spend the night out, but we did have cars and apartments to go back to if it got too cold,” senior Alex Graddy-Reed, the president of Campus Kitty, said. “We can’t really replicate the homeless experience because we don’t have the same feeling of insecurity.”

The 24-hour vigil, which began at 11 a.m. Tuesday, also featured several speakers, a volunteer fair, and a canned food drive.  More than 4000 food items were collected, and they will be presented to the Bethlehem House charity today. Throughout Tuesday afternoon, several homeless and formerly homeless people stopped by the vigil site to thank the students for their efforts, Graddy-Reed said.

A photo slideshow of the event is available on the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette website, and Conway’s Log Cabin Democrat ran a front-page story about it.

Hendrix, founded in 1876, is a selective, residential, undergraduate liberal arts college emphasizing experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college is among 165 colleges featured in the 2009 edition of the Princeton Review America’s Best Value Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.

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